With the cost of college continuing to rise each year, scholarships have become increasingly appealing. They are defined as “a grant or payment made to support a student’s education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement” according to Oxford Languages. Most require students to write essays and fill out some paperwork, but sometimes, winning a scholarship can be as easy as taking a survey. If you’re interested in receiving money to help with your college education, here is how to find and apply for scholarships.

The first step in finding scholarships is locating the right websites to use. Certain sources may not be reliable, or may not have the information you are looking for. According to TheScholarshipSystem, scholarships that are most likely a scam require 100 characters or less for an essay commonly use terms such as “sweepstakes,” “drawing,” or “random selection.” They ask for your social security number and other personal information. Be aware of these when you are on your own search for scholarships.

A few scholarship websites that I recommend are scholarships.com, fastweb.com, and tallo.com. These are all reliable sources that provide countless amounts of scholarship information and make it extremely easy for you to apply. I would also suggest checking out niche.com and chegg.com for even more scholarship opportunities.

Now that you have found trustworthy websites, it’s time to begin applying. The most important step is to make sure you read the scholarship guidelines. These guidelines have specific requirements for who can and cannot apply based on age, grade level, etc, so make sure you qualify before continuing the application process.

The final step in applying for scholarships is to read the application thoroughly, fill it out completely, and make sure you meet the application deadline. When inputting your application, make sure to use an email or phone number that will be easily accessible in case you are sent any information. Then you’re done!

Finding and applying for scholarships is a quick and easy process that has the potential to be very rewarding. If you haven’t begun applying yet, now is a great time to get started. With summer coming soon, preparing for scholarships would be a wise investment of your time.